Facts revealed during Question Hour of the Lok Sabha

6-May-2016 Comments (0)

During the current session of the parliament, questions regarding various administrative activity were asked by the Members of Parliament and were answered written/orally by the concerned Minister who is obliged to answer to the Parliament. Here is the takeaway from the recent Q&A session from both the Houses.

22 fake universities are functioning in the country

HRD Minister Smriti Irani told the Rajya Sabha that 22 ‘fake’ universities are functioning in the country, with a maximum of nine in Uttar Pradesh and five in Delhi.

Besides UP and Delhi, there are two in West Bengal and one each in Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Concerned states have been asked to initiate action against these.

India currently has 34 operational satellites

Minister of state of the department of space, Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that currently 34 Indian satellites are operational in the space of which 13 are for communication, 12 for the purpose of earth observation and seven for navigation purpose.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said that Nagaland has the highest dropout rate at primary level of 19.4 per cent in the country closely followed by Manipur at 18 per cent while most other north eastern states have a dropout rate far above the national average.

In a written reply to a separate question, she said that lack of toilet facilities in schools for girl child has been one of the reasons for girls to dropout from schools.

However overall the annual average dropout rate at primary level has reduced from 5.6 per cent during 2012-13 to 4.3 per cent during 2014-15.

23.6 per cent of sanctioned posts in KVs lying vacant

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, HRD minister Smriti Irani said that as of March 1, 2016, 10,644 teaching positions or 23.6 per cent of total sanctioned posts are lying vacant in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) which includes 252 posts of principal and 133 posts of vice-principal.

Corporate houses owe Rs 5 lakh crore to PSU banks

PSU banks are owed about Rs 5 lakh crore by corporate houses and of this roughly Rs 1.4 lakh crore are owed by just five companies, which include Lanco, GVK, Suzlon Energy, Hindustan Construction Company and a certain company called the Adani Group and Adani Power.

272 Indian fishermen currently lodged in foreign jails

Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh told the Rajya Sabha that 272 Indian fishermen are currently lodged in foreign jails, including 220 in Pakistan and 34 in Sri Lanka. However as on date there are only 34 fishermen and 19 boats which are in custody of Sri Lanka because from time to time, government secures the release of Indian fishermen.

G M Siddeshwara, minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha said that 541 posts including those of full-time and part-time directors are lying vacant in various central public sector enterprises such as MTNL, Hindustan Cables, ITI Ltd, Oil India, Eastern Coalfields, Scooters India, Hindustan Paper Corporation, Jute Corporation of India and others.

Number of RTI applications have declined

Minister of state in PMO, Jitendra Singh said in Rajya Sabha that the number of RTI applications has come down to around 7.55 lakh in 2014-15 from over 8.34 lakh a year before as departments and ministries are putting more information in public domain on their own.

Govt to build 1,000 km of expressways for Rs 16,680 crore

To ensure quicker connectivity, the government plans to build 1,000 km of expressways at an investment of Rs 16,680 crore under its National Highways Development Project programme, which include the Vadodara-Mumbai project (400 km) in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Delhi-Meerut (66 km) on NH 58 in Delhi/UP and Bengaluru-Chennai (334 km) on NH 4 in Karnataka-Tamil Nadu.

182 PhDs awarded by IITs in humanities, social sciences

HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha said that IITs awarded 182 PhDs for research in subjects like literature, art, culture, history, economics, psychology, sociology, which are taught under humanities and social sciences, in the last three years.

What is Question Hour ?

Question Hour is the first hour of a sitting session of India's Lok Sabha in which Members of Parliament raise questions about any aspect of administrative activity. The concerned Minister is obliged to answer to the Parliament, either orally or in writing, depending on the type of question raised. Questions are one of the ways Parliament can hold the Executive accountable.

Types of Question :

There are two main types of question :

(i) Starred Questions (ii) Non-starred Questions

Starred Questions : Starred Questions are those for which an oral answer is expected. The member is allowed to ask a supplementary question, with the permission of the Speaker, after the reply is obtained from the Minister concerned.

Non-starred Questions : Non-starred questions are those for which a written reply is expected. After the reply has been provided, no supplementary question can be asked. A notice period is to be given to the minister to reply to a question. If the question is so urgent that a Member cannot wait for the duration of the notice period, then the member can do so provided it is accepted by the Speaker. Such questions are called supplementary questions.

Practice Questions

Q1

Which of the following is the only one of the five states going to elections in Nov-Dec 2013 where polls will happen in two-phase?

There is a difference of 25 per cent in workforce participation rate of men and women worldwide but in India it is up to 40 per cent.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director General Guy Ryder has expressed concerns over the widening gender gap in workforce in India.

ILO will work with the government in its labour reform process by bringing in international experience and setting international labour standards. The reforms would probably bridge the gap of gender gap in workforce in India.

India does poorly in comparison to its neighbours despite a more robust economic growth. In 2015, women comprised of 43% of the labour force in Bangladesh,

The rate has also increased in Pakistan, while participation has remained relatively stable in Sri Lanka. Myanmar with 79% and Malaysia with 49% are also way ahead of India.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the second anti-drug Working Group meeting of Heads of Drug Control Agencies of BRICS in New Delhi to discuss issues related to narco-terrorism and money laundering. The meeting is being organized by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

BRICS drug control meeting 2016 :

The delegates from the member countries of BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) and the Ambassadors of the respective countries will participate in the meeting.

The Directors General of Border Guarding Forces and the Paramilitary will also attend the inaugural session along with the heads of the Intelligence and Investigative Agencies like the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Indian delegation shall be headed by Shri Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Director General, Narcotics Control Bureau and shall comprise of officers from the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Health and Family welfare and Narcotics Control Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs.

Background :

The anti-drug working group meeting of heads of anti-narcotics agencies has been organised by India in accordance with the ‘eThekwani Declaration’ adopted during the BRICS summit in March 2013 at Durban, South Africa where it was decided that the heads of anti-drug agencies of the five member countries may meet regularly under the aegis of the BRICS anti-drug working group meeting. In keeping with the spirit of the eThekwani Declaration, the first anti-drug working group meeting of BRICS countries was organized at Moscow, Russia in November, 2015.

Jul 07, 2016Cabinet approves setting up a Major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its 'in-principle' approval for setting up a Major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu.

Background : At present, there are only a few ports in India that have sufficient draft and can match global cargo handling efficiencies. Currently, all of India's trans-shipment traffic gets handled in Colombo, Singapore and other international ports. Indian port industry loses out upto Rs 1,500 Crores of revenues each year.

Significance of Enayam port :

Establishing this Major port at Enayam will not only act as a major gateway container port for Indian cargo that is presently trans-shipped outside the country, but also become a trans-shipment hub for the global East-West trade route.

Enayam will also reduce the logistics cost for exporters and importers in South India who currently depend on trans-shipment in Colombo or other ports thus incurring additional port handling charges.

References

The information provided here has references from various newspaper
and websites. You can Report this article if you find something
inappropriate or some errors with facts and information provided
herein. Report

Like us ?

By solving 2 + 2 won't make you genius or by liking Sai Baba post won't make you successful. But if you read boring current affairs delivered by erewise then it will certainly help you crack your exams.

Erewise is a revision web portal especially designed & dedicated to students who want to make it big in the world through their academic skills and talents.

We cater to the needs of those who seek career in high offices by cracking competitive exams like SSC, UPSC, Banking, State PCS and others by providing them with comprehensive and interactive learning contents that keep them abreast with the relevant news and events around the world in an appealing way.

Write for us

You can now write your ideas/views on the current affairs and let all others to read them by publishing them on our website.

It's a golden chance to analyse your state of preparations by writing on daily current events and reviewing response/comments received on them.